Author Archive

Novel Lyme Antibiotic Heads For Human Safety Trials

https://news.northeastern.edu/2024/02/28/lyme-antibiotic-treatment-human-trials/

Experimental antibiotic treatment for Lyme heads for human safety trials

By Cynthia McCormick Hibbert, Northeastern University

2/28/24

Human safety trials of a novel antibiotic treatment for Lyme disease developed by Northeastern professor Kim Lewis are scheduled to start this spring in Australia, with results anticipated by fall.

“Hopefully, the results will be positive,” says Lewis, University Distinguished Professor of Biology.

So far the therapeutic agent, an antibiotic known as hygromycin A, has not been toxic in animals and has cleared Lyme in mice, he says.

Existing standard treatments for Lyme disease, doxycycline and amoxicillin, have proved far from silver bullets for the nearly half-million people stricken by the tick-borne illness in the U.S. each year.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 5% to 10% of Lyme patients have persistent symptoms after early treatment, while the Global Lyme Alliance says that as many as 2 million Americans could suffer post-treatment disability.

Overlooked antibiotic

Lewis says that hygromycin A is different from the broad spectrum antibiotics in that it specifically targets spirochetes including Borrelia burgdorferi, the spiral-shaped bacterium that transmits Lyme disease through the bite of a deer tick.

The expectation is not only that hygromycin A will prove more effective in curing Lyme disease in the early, acute stage but that it could also mop up residual pathogens that may persist in some patients with chronic disease, Lewis says.

He suspects many cases of chronic Lyme symptoms are caused by changes to patients’ microbiomes due to the use of broad spectrum antibiotics.

With hygromycin’s specific targeting of spirochetes, Lewis says that is less likely to lead to chronic disease.

“What we’re testing for now is a treatment for acute Lyme that will be more effective and won’t wreck the microbiome and will hopefully lead to fewer chronic cases,” he says.

People with chronic, long-term or persistent Lyme call it a life-changing experience, leaving them with arthritis, cardiac problems, fatigue, brain fog, depression and anxiety.

Made by a bacterium found in the soil, hygromycin A has been a known but overlooked antimicrobial since 1953, Lewis says.

“Nobody really cared about this compound because it’s very weak against regular bacteria. What we discovered is that it is indeed very weak against regular pathogens but exceptionally potent against spirochetes.”

Phase 1 trials set for April

Lewis’ team has licensed the compound to Flightpath, a biotech company focused on Lyme disease that is conducting the phase 1 trial scheduled to start in April. Flightpath is leading the clinical development effort with funding from the Cohen Foundation.

“A safety trial simply asks the question, ‘Is it safe for healthy people to take this drug,’” Lewis says.

If it passes toxicity screenings, it can advance to phase 2 to determine effective dosing ranges “and see if it cures acute Lyme disease,” he says.

Success at that stage would lead to a clinical trial involving a larger group of patients, with the possible end result of requesting FDA approval for the treatment via a new drug application.

Even if approved, human efficacy trials probably wouldn’t start until 2025, Lewis says.

That hasn’t stopped the Global Lyme Alliance, which helped fund Lewis’ Lyme drug discovery program, from expressing excitement over the prospect of seeing hygromycin A in doctors’ hands.

In a statement on Instagram in February, the alliance quoted Flightpath CEO Matt Tindall saying that reaching this stage is a “landmark achievement for Lyme patients.”

If the trials make it to phase 2, researchers will reach out to Lyme specialists at places such as Johns Hopkins and Massachusetts General Hospital to recruit Lyme patients for the study, Lewis says.

Most projects that researchers in academia and industry toil on for years “do not get to the point when we feel, based on extensive animal studies, that the compound has sufficient efficacy and safety features that we can now introduce it into humans,” Lewis says.

“We are at that point with hygromycin A. That is, of course, encouraging,” he says.

SOURCE: Northeastern University

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Activism, Lyme, research, Treatment

Military Report: Most Frequently Diagnosed Vector-borne Diseases

https://health.mil/News/Articles/2024/01/01/MSMR-Vector-Diseases

Brief Report: The Four Most Frequently Diagnosed Vector-borne Diseases Among Service Member and Non-Service Member Beneficiaries in the Geographic Combatant Commands, 2010–2022

1/1/2024

By: Ralph A. Stidham, DHSc, MPH; Ronald Cole, MPH, RN PHNA-BC; Sithembile L. Mabila, PhD, MSc

Vector-borne diseases may pose an increased risk for U.S. service members during recurring military training exercises, operations, and response missions, in addition to residence in endemic regions within and outside the continental U.S.1,2 Prior MSMR reports address VBD surveillance, described by surveillance data for 23 reportable medical events, among active duty and reserve component service members.3,4 This report covers a 13-year surveillance period, from January 2010 to December 2022, and provides linear trends of selected VBDs among Armed Forces service and non-service member beneficiaries diagnosed at installations within the Northern Command (NORTHCOM), Africa Command (AFRICOM), Central Command (CENTCOM), European Command (EUCOM), Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM), or Southern Command (SOUTHCOM). Trends of only the four most frequently reported VBDs were evaluated, as Lyme disease, malaria, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, and dengue fever comprised 90% (n=5,199) of all 23 VBDs (n=5,750) among Military Health System beneficiaries documented as RMEs during the surveillance period.

Methods

This study includes all MHS beneficiaries from January 2010 through December 2022. Data were acquired from RME records of 23 VBDs from the Defense Medical Surveillance System, limited to the four most-diagnosed VBDs in DMSS during the surveillance period; a full listing of VBD RMEs are available in a prior MSMR report.3 A VBD case was defined as an individual identified through a RME report, classified as “confirmed,” “probable,” or “suspect” by having met specified laboratory or epidemiologic criteria.5

Demographic information including military component (active, reserve, guard), beneficiary status (service members or non-service member), and U.S. Combatant Command at time of diagnoses were included. Non-service member beneficiaries included dependents, former service members, and retirees. MHS beneficiaries diagnosed as a case before the surveillance period were excluded. An individual could qualify as a case once for each RME type. Incidence date was the earliest event date, with classification determined by utilizing all available data, prioritizing confirmed over probable or suspect records.

Results

Click on the table to access a 508-compliant PDF versionClick on the table to access a 508-compliant PDF version

A total of 5,199 confirmed, probable, and suspect cases of Lyme disease (n=3,400), RMSF (n=893), malaria (n=679), and dengue fever (n=227) were identified among MHS beneficiaries from January 2010 through December 31, 2022 (Table). Of those confirmed, probable, and suspect cases, 2,343 were diagnosed in service members and 2,918 were diagnosed in non-service member beneficiaries (data not shown). Lyme disease and RMSF, both caused by tick-borne pathogens, accounted for 83% of cases, while malaria and dengue fever, transmitted by mosquito vectors, comprised the remainder.

Since Lyme disease was the most common VBD of the four diseases evaluated during the surveillance period, trends of confirmed and probable cases of Lyme disease over time by CCMD are presented in the Figure. Confirmed Lyme disease cases peaked in 2012 (n=455) and then gradually decreased over the study period to a low of 75 cases in 2022; probable cases peaked in 2017 (n=53) and steadily decreased to a low of 15 cases in 2022; suspect cases peaked in 2016 (n=73) and progressively declined to a low of 8 cases in 2022 (data not shown). Cases from NORTHCOM represented the greatest number of confirmed and probable Lyme disease cases during the entire surveillance period (Figure). The annual number of confirmed and probable Lyme disease cases from EUCOM were greatest in 2011 and lowest in 2017; Lyme cases were very low in all other CCMDs, ranging from 0 to 6 cases annually (data not shown).

The Atlantic and central regions of the U.S contributed 85% of NORTHCOM’s reported RMSF cases (data not shown). NORTHCOM averaged 30 RMSF cases annually between 2010 and 2016, dramatically increasing to an average of 149 cases between 2017 and 2019 (data not shown). NORTHCOM was only able to confirm 32% of RMSF cases reported during the surveillance period (Table).

Discussion

Lyme disease cases constituted the largest proportion of overall RMEs in this report, with highest numbers occurring in 2012. A substantial proportion of Lyme disease cases were reported from locations in the northeastern U.S., where Lyme disease is known to be endemic: 43% of service members and non-service beneficiaries were diagnosed at NORTHCOM Groton (New London Submarine Base, CT) and NORTHCOM New England. The New London Submarine Base is close to Lyme, Connecticut, where an epidemiological evaluation of a cluster of children with arthritis resulted in the first complete description of the infection in 1976, giving the disease its name.6 Connecticut still ranks in the top 10 states for reported Lyme disease cases.7 No Lyme disease cases were reported in AFRICOM during the surveillance period, because the vectors (Ixodes pacificus and Ixodes scapularis) are not present in the region.

In 2017, the armed forces expanded its RME guidelines to include all spotted fever rickettsioses (SFR), to better align with CDC case definitions.2 Diagnoses and reports of rickettsial diseases at military hospitals and clinics in NORTHCOM (where RMSF is endemic) significantly increased after the surveillance requirement expansion from only RMSF to the broader SFR group. In this review, all SFR cases were RMSF diagnoses (n=893).

Approximately 68% of RMSF cases reported during the surveillance period could not be confirmed. All laboratory tests performed at military health facilities for RMSF were Indirect Fluorescent Antibody (IFA) assay and other antibody tests, and no records of testing with PCR of blood or eschar specimens were found. Definite identification of Rickettsiae is not feasible solely by IFA due to considerable serologic cross-reactivity, particularly when high-endpoint titers are seen for more than 1 rickettsial antigen.8 Increased use of molecular assays (i.e., real-time PCR) can both confirm and offer species-specific diagnosis in a single sample, facilitating identification and management of rickettsial diseases in both service members and non-service beneficiaries.

The observed decline in the incidence of mosquito-borne cases, such as malaria and dengue, among deployed service members over the last decade is likely due to reduced deployments to endemic regions, with the exception of EUCOM.4 Although dengue fever is not represented significantly in EUCOM in this study, there is a rising risk of dengue and other VBDs due to environmental changes and expanding global travel and trade.9,10,11

VBDs often manifest with non-specific symptoms, and when unconfirmed could constitute a number of other infections or health conditions. Lyme disease is frequently misdiagnosed as chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, or multiple sclerosis. This non-specificity of symptoms and related issues such as diagnostic availability and cross-reactivity in diagnosis confirmation can pose challenges for accurate case identification and classification, resulting in the major limitations to this study’s findings.

This report summarizes data from electronic reports of RMEs and examines the incidence and geographic distribution of the top four vector-borne infectious diseases among service members and non-service MHS beneficiaries in the CCMDs during a recent 13-year period. Awareness of the risk of these VBDs will help senior leaders develop and employ strategies to decrease avertable medical problems in MHS beneficiaries, maximizing the productivity and readiness of the medical force.

Author Affiliations

Epidemiology and Disease Surveillance Department, U.S. Army Public Health Command–West, Joint Base San Antonio–Fort Sam Houston, TX: Dr. Stidham; Human Health Services, U.S. Public Health Command–Pacific, Tripler, HI: COL Cole; Epidemiology and Analysis Branch, Armed Forces Health Surveillance Division, Defense Health Agency: Dr. Mabila

(See link for article and graphs)

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Category:

Lyme, Malaria, mosquitoes, research, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Ticks, Viruses

Fauci: ‘Vaccines Not a Good Strategy to Control Respiratory Viruses’. Fauci: ‘We Need Vaccines To Control Respiratory Viruses’

https://popularrationalism.substack.com/p/fauci-mrna-vaccines-not-a-good-strategy

FAUCI: VACCINES NOT A GOOD STRATEGY TO CONTROL RESPIRATORY VIRUSES

The report could almost be pulled from the pages of POPULAR RATIONALISM.

 
JAMES LYONS-WEILER
FEB 29, 2024

In a shocking report (Morens et al., 2023), Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), has raised dire concerns about the efficacy of mRNA vaccines in combating respiratory viruses. This statement marks a 180-degree turn away from previous statements and public health strategies that have heavily relied on mRNA technology to curb the spread of diseases like COVID-19.

“RETHINKING” After Attempting to Force-Vaccinate the Entire Population of the Planet

In January 2023, Fauci, and two colleagues, outlined concerns rooted in the interplay between respiratory viruses and the human immune system. Unlike systemic infections, they claim, respiratory viruses primarily replicate in the mucosal linings of the airways, posing unique challenges for vaccine-induced immunity. This, of course, is not true; the virus replicates in any cell with an ACE2 receptor, and the highest density of virus detected in the lining of the gut. But we’ll move on from Fauci’s inability to grasp the full scientific literature.

Here are the key arguments underpinning Fauci et al.’s reversed position:

  1. Mucosal vs. Systemic Immunity: mRNA vaccines are designed to elicit systemic immune responses, primarily through the generation of neutralizing antibodies. However, respiratory viruses require a robust mucosal immune response for effective neutralization and clearance. Fauci and colleagues argue that mRNA vaccines, in their current form, do not adequately stimulate mucosal immunity, potentially limiting their effectiveness against respiratory pathogens.

  2. Durability of Protection: Another concern they point to involves the duration of protection offered by mRNA vaccines. Respiratory viruses, including influenza and coronaviruses, exhibit high mutation rates, leading to the emergence of new variants. The implication is that mRNA vaccines may not provide long-lasting immunity against these ever-evolving threats, requiring frequent updates and booster shots. (*SMH*).

  3. Immune Imprinting: The phenomenon of “original antigenic sin” or immune imprinting is also highlighted as a potential issue. This concept suggests that exposure to a specific viral strain via vaccination could bias the immune system’s response to future infections, making it less effective against different strains. While mRNA vaccines can be quickly updated, repeated vaccinations might reinforce this imprinting, potentially complicating responses to new variants.

Pardon me while I duct-tape my head to keep it from exploding.

(See link for article)

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**Comment**

After admitting that the past and the present has yielded unsuccessful attempts to elicit solid protection against respiratory viruses, but conveniently leaving out adverse reactions and death, predictably, Fauci et al. conclude that “vaccine” research & development is the answer.  Translation: continue the narrative at all costs and use millions in tax-payer dollars under the guise of ‘public health’ for flu vaccines despite all evidence that they don’t work and never will.

Rather than espouse to the power of natural immunity and find effective treatments to support it, the authors are ‘excited’ to rethink all past assumptions and approaches and work to find bold new paths. Translation: ‘bold new paths’ myopically focuses on ‘vaccines’ and the continued narrative at all costs and uses millions in tax-payer dollars despite all evidence ‘vaccines’ fail to eradicate disease, and often cause harm and death, but we will slap the word ‘novel’ on it to make it sound scientific.

What are these bold new paths? 

Simply put: these mad scientists will not be happy until they use up all the taxpayer’s money for novel but ineffective ‘vaccines,’ and we are all 10 feet underground.  

Please read the article in full because Weiler delineates how Fauci gives lies within lies – something he is expert at. He also points out that despite all the admissions, the ineffective influenza vaccine program remains ….ineffective as ever. Fauci never discusses the known antibody dependent enhancement (ADE) which is a major obstacle in ‘vaccine’ development.

Weiler also rightly questions where Fauci’s concerns were prior to 2020 and why didn’t public health policy reflect this reality?

Questions that will never be answered because they would yield truth and we can’t have that.

Important excerpt:

Because humans inhale and ingest enormous quantities of exogenous proteins with every breath and mouthful, the respiratory and gastrointestinal immune compartments have evolved to deal with continual and massive antigenic assaults from the outside world.

Since mucosal and systemic immunity only partially protects against infection with mucosal respiratory viruses, we must take advantage of alternative host immune mechanisms….

Interestingly, the article mentions the 1918 Spanish Flu. What isn’t mentioned is the military experiment that attempted to infect soldiers with this acclaimed deadly virus by infecting their lung tissue from sick or deceased patients, putting infected tissue into their eyes and spraying it in their noses and throats, taking the blood from sick patients and injecting it directly into the healthy, standing over the sick and breathing in deeply as the sick coughed on them. 

Out of 300 subjects, NOBODY got the flu, or even got ill!

Yet, the mantra remains that a person who touches something with the virus on it and then touches his or her mouth, eyes or nose can become infected.

Interestingly at the time, the AMA advised up to 30 grams a day of aspirin causing aspirin poisoning, which causes hyperventilation and buildup of fluid in the lungs, and it’s now believed that many of the October deaths were actually caused or hastened by aspirin poisoning.

And so, history repeats itself.  

Similarly to the Spanish Flu, many claim COVID hasn’t been isolated, directly causes illness, is even a new disease, and that the deployed treatments have caused the very symptoms of the disease itself that have proven to be deadly. 

Coincidence?

Fauci’s flip-flopping and crimes on record:

Category:

vaccines, Viruses

US Gov Funding More Gain-of-Function Research for Bird Flu Says Watchdog Group

The following is important to keep in mind while reading the article below:
Despite all of the above, the MO remains the same and continues unabated with your tax-dollars
https://thevaccinereaction.org/2024/02/u-s-government-is-funding-gain-of-function-research-in-china-to-make-bird-flu-more-infectious/

U.S. Government is Funding Gain-of-Function Research in China to Make Bird Flu More Infectious

by Carolyn Hendler, JD

Published February 26, 2024

The U.S government is again funding gain-of-function (GoF) research with Chinese scientists to make a dangerous virus even more potent. This time it is with birds not bats. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) gave $1 million to fund risky research on bird flu viruses to the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, China; the USDA Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory in Athena, Georgia and the University of Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute in Scotland.1

The plan is to infect ducks and geese with various strains of bird flu to render the virus more infectious and transmissible as scientists study the virus’s ability, “to jump into mammalian hosts.”

Documents outlining the research, which began in 2021 and will continue until 2026, were obtained by the White Coat Waste Project. The White Coat Waste Project is a nonprofit “bipartisan taxpayer watchdog organization” with a mission to “unite animal-lovers and liberty-lovers to find, expose and defund wasteful and cruel taxpayer-funded animal experimentation.”2

Bird Flu Research Tied to Wuhan Institute of Virology

It is worth noting that one of the research partners, the Roslin Institute, is connected to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) whose research is believed to have started the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. One of the researchers on the project, Wenju Liu, is affiliated with the WIV along with the “bat lady” herself, Zheng-Li Shi, well known for her long-time work on bat corona viruses.3

The research is focusing on three strains of bird flu, H5NX, H7N9 and H9N2, all three of which are capable of infecting animals and humans. H5NX is considered, “highly pathogenic” and can lead to neurological problems while H7N9 has caused severe illness in humans in the past.4

The experimental GoF research will use chickens, quails, geese and duck to predict the virus evolution in natural hosts and study their “potential to jump into mammalian hosts”.5 6

Answers Demanded from U.S. Secretary of Agriculture

U.S. Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa has demanded answers from U.S. Secretary Agriculture Tom Vilsack about the tax payer funded research. She asked whether this research was considered GoF research, what part of the research was being conducted in China and what, if any, safeguards were put in place. The goal of GoF research is to increase the transmissibility or virulence of a pathogen for the purpose of trying to understand the likelihood of it causing a pandemic.7 8

Sen. Ernst said:

The health and safety of Americans are too important to just wing it, and Biden’s USDA should have had more apprehension before sending any taxpayer dollars to collaborate with the CCP on risky avian flu research. They should know by now to suspect ‘fowl’ play when it comes to researchers who have ties to the dangerous Wuhan Lab, and simply switching from bats to birds causes concern that they are creating more pathogens of pandemic potential… We cannot allow what happened in Wuhan to happen again.9

The discovery of this risky research comes on the heels of former U.S. intelligence officials, the FBI, the U.S. Department of Energy and scientists agreeing that the COVID pandemic likely began when the SARS-CoV-2 virus escaped from the WIV while engaging in GoF research which, according to Rutgers University molecular biologist, Richard Ebright, PhD, violated federal policies on GoF research and enhanced potential pandemic pathogen research.

U.S. Government May be Giving Tens of Millions for Viral Research Overseas

Sen. Ernst and Representative Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin allege that the U.S. government is providing tens of millions of dollars for viral research abroad including $11 million in grants to EcoHealth Alliance (the U.S. group connected to the coronavirus research at the WIV) for research including, but not limited to, “viral spillover from wildlife in the Philippines”, “viral spillover bio surveillance in India” and “high-risk” pathogens in Liberia.10

USDA spokesperson Allan Rodriguez denied the allegations saying:

USDA’s funding is only being committed to the specific components carried out by our own team located in Athens, Georgia, and is not [in] any way contributing to research taking place in the U.K. or China.11

U.S. is 18 Months Away from Controversial Bird Flu Vaccine for Birds

Bird flu cases have been on the rise in the U.S. In the last two years, the virus has been detected in flocks in 47 states and caused more than 81 million birds to be culled.12 In June 2023, the USDA announced it would spend $502 million to prepare for potential future outbreaks in response to the worst ever bird flu outbreak. In the year and a half prior, 58.7 million chicken, turkeys and other birds across 47 states died from the bird flu, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).13

The USDA, in response to the increase in bird flu cases among the avian population, is talking about poultry vaccinations with international trading partners. The World Organization for Animal Health recommends using bird flu vaccinations as preventive measure against a potential pandemic.14

In fact, the USDA recently announced that it is about 18 months away from identifying an animal vaccine for the current strain of bird flu and are working on a process to distribute it.15

Secretary Vilsack announced:

We are probably 18 months or so away from being able to identify a vaccine that would be effective for this particular (avian flu) that we’re dealing with now.16

Vaccinating the avian population is controversial. According to Rodrigo Gallardo, PhD, DVM, professor in poultry medicine and avian virology specialist at the University of California Davis, eradication (putting down the entire flock when only case of bird flu is detected) is preferred over vaccination as vaccinating flocks creates a number of complications. Vaccinated birds could shed the virus to unprotected birds, although they may not appear sick and, therefore, may not be isolated from unprotected birds. Also, testing may not be able to differentiate between antibodies from infection and antibodies from the vaccine and evidence has shown that birds in countries that vaccinate have developed a more endemic strain that does not ever get totally eliminated.17

Yuko Sato, DVM, associate professor at the College of Veterinary Medicine at Iowa State University warned:

The vaccine is not a silver bullet. This is not going to prevent infection of the birds, so in order to have an exit strategy as the country, you would have to make sure that if you vaccinate, if you still have positive birds, you have to be able to make sure that you could stamp out the virus. Otherwise, we’ll never be looking at eradicating the virus from the United States.18

The U.S. does not currently accept chickens from countries that vaccinate for bird flu. The National Chicken Council is against the vaccination of chickens for bird flu because the vaccine can mask the presence of the infection. They are concerned that should U.S. chickens be vaccinated, the U.S. broiler industry, which is the second largest exporter of chickens in the world, would lose out in the very valuable export world valued at more than $5 billion annually.19

Clinical Trial of mRNA Bird Flu Vaccines for Humans Also Underway

With much of the poultry community against vaccinating birds, the focus may turn to human vaccinations for the bird flu. The CDC have been conducting clinical trials of experimental mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid) bird flu vaccines  for humans. One study, which showed  mRNA vaccines are immunogenic in mice and ferrets and prevent morbidity and mortality in ferrets for a strain of bird flu, was funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and the Penn Institute for Infectious and Zoonotic Diseases.20

The study on experimental mRNA bird flu vaccine for humans stated:

Our laboratory and others previously demonstrated that mRNA-lipid nanoparticle (LNP) vaccines encoding influenza virus HA induce potent immune responses in mice, rabbits, and ferrets, and clinical trials confirm their safety and immunogenicity in humans.21

References:

1 Lardieri A. REVEALED: US is collaborating with Chinese scientists to make bird flu strains more infectious and deadly as part of $1m project – despite fears similar tests unleashed Covid. Daily Mail Feb. 15, 2024.
2 U.S. District Court D.C. White Coat Waste Project, Inc. v. National Institute of Health et al. 1:22-cv-00006 Aug. 2, 2023.
3 Lardieri A. REVEALED: US is collaborating with Chinese scientists to make bird flu strains more infectious and deadly as part of $1m project – despite fears similar tests unleashed Covid. Daily Mail Feb. 15, 2024
4 Ibid.
5 Research Service. Research Project: US-UK-China Collab: Predictive Phylogenetics For Evolutionary and Transmission Dynamics of Newly Emerging Avian Influenza Viruses. USDA agriculture. Feb. 15, 2024.
6 Nieves A. WCW Investigation: $1M USDA-CCP Program Souping Up Bird Flu with Wuhan Experimenter; Sen. Ernst Demands Answers. White Coat Waste Project Feb. 15, 2024.
7 Christenson J. Sen. Joni Ernst demands answers on Biden USDA’s $1M ‘dangerous bird flu experiments’ in China. The New York Post Feb. 15, 2024.
8 Wattles, B. U.S.-China Bird Flu Research Funding Stirs Biosecurity Concerns. Business Times Feb. 16, 2024.
9 Christenson J. Sen. Joni Ernst demands answers on Biden USDA’s $1M ‘dangerous bird flu experiments’ in China. The New York Post Feb. 15, 2024.
10 Ibid.
11 Christenson J. Sen. Joni Ernst demands answers on Biden USDA’s $1M ‘dangerous bird flu experiments’ in China. The New York Post Feb. 15, 2024.
12 Parpia R. Bird Flu Outbreak in Oregon Leads to Mass Euthanization of Poultry. The Vaccine Reaction Feb. 5, 2024.
13 Douglas L. US to spend $502 million on future bird flu response. Reuters June 23, 2023.
14 Wattles B. U.S.-China Bird Flu Research Funding Stirs Biosecurity Concerns. Business Times Feb. 16, 2024.
15 Wat Douglas L. US is ’18 months or so’ away from finding bird flu vaccine, says agriculture secretary. Reuters Feb. 15, 2024.
16 Ibid.
17 Christensen J. US government is testing avian flu vaccines for birds, but ending the historic outbreak isn’t that simple. CNN May 5, 2023.
18 Ibid.
19 Christensen, J. US government is testing avian flu vaccines for birds, but ending the historic outbreak isn’t that simple. CNN. May 5, 2023.
20 Furey C, Ye N, Kercher L. Development of a nucleoside-modified mRNA vaccine against clade 2.3.4.4b H5 highly pathogenic avian influenza virus. bioRxiv Apr. 30, 2023.
21 Ibid.

Category:

research, vaccines, Viruses

Art Recognizing Lyme Disease

https://www.lymedisease.org/emily-bromberg-art/

Her art reflects long-term struggle with unrecognized Lyme disease

By Dorothy Kupcha Leland
2/23/24

Emily Bromberg is a painter and ceramic artist based in Seattle, Washington. She’s struggled with unexplained chronic pain for much of her life. Things dramatically intensified in 2021, however, forcing her to stop working.

It took two more years of visiting about a dozen doctors before she was finally diagnosed with Lyme disease and began treatment.

She has recently completed a body of work called “For your Convenience.” It is an art installation that combines paintings and ceramic vases in a reflection on her long-term struggle with misdiagnosed and untreated tick-borne infection and mold illness.

Creating visual representations of her heart, lungs, and gut covered in ticks, infectious bacteria, intracellular parasites, and mold, is a cathartic process through which she hopes to make visible what is often an invisible illness.  (See link for article)

See more of her work at her website: emilybromberg.com. Her Instagram handle is @emily.bromberg .

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Category:

Activism, Lyme